A variety of wireless communication technologies are now being utilized in Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) systems to convey pricing information of the items for sale in a supermarket. These systems are arranged to electronically change the price on ESL tags to replace the time-consuming process of changing prices on paper labels. The price displayed on the ESL tags is updated using a highly reliable "downlink" communications path from the ESL system controller to the ESL tag to assure that the price displayed on the ESL tag is identical to the price stored in the supermarket's computer database. This communication path is called the "downlink" because it typically originates from a centralized unit mounted in the ceiling (ceiling node). To minimize pricing errors, such ESL systems must have a positive assurance that each ESL tag received a particular price change message. The ESL tags transmit a positive acknowledgement over an "uplink" communication path to the ceiling node. Not only is it essential for the uplink to be reliable, but for ESL systems to be cost-effective, ESL tags must be very inexpensive and the supermarket infrastructure cost (the quantity and cost of the ceiling nodes) must be kept to a minimum. Thus, a problem exists to develop a reliable uplink communication path for an ESL system that is inexpensive yet has as great a communication range as possible.